They want to run more tests but I have been with out that machine for days now, and I can tell a difference. I am so tired.
What can I do until I get a CPAP to sleep with, that I won’t be so tired?
I do not have obstructive but central sleep apnea.
I can really tell a difference in my energy when I use the CPAP. I contacted the DR but ehy want me to wait until I have taken more tests.

I suffer from severe apnea as well as insomnia, I have a cpap which I find difficult to use, I have also went thru the surgery that is supposed to help with apnea but that made it worse. I have tried to use traditional meds like lunesta, but I become immune quickly but in the meantime, I suffer from memory loss and the like.

so my dad has severe sleep apnea. its mixed apnea (obstructive and central) and he has episodes 70 times a night. he uses a machine (CPAP or BiPAP) to breathe.

what does this mean? will he be okay? is his life in danger?

I have severe sleep apnea. I sleep with a CPAP (continous positive airways pressure) machine. It works great, but my nose tickles several times in the middle of the night! I have to turn it off and scratch my nose before i can go back to sleep. What can i do to stop the ticleing????
The tickle is on the outside of my nose, not inside.

I am reading up on sleep apnea and would like to hear some advice on what may be the best cpap macines on the market?

I was just diagnosed and afraid to take the drug they recommended due to it influencing dopamine levels and potential for hallucinations and severe obsessions with gambling, sex, overeating, and shopping. there are lawsuits against the company for these life wrecking side effects.

I have been sleep deprived nearly 25 years and on bipap/cpap for 15 with little abatement of the many health effects. I am finanlly starting to get some of the errors made in treating sleep apnea corrected but it will be in vain if I can’t get the PLMD under control. I think they said I did it 175 times in less than 6 hours and weach time disrupts your sleep.

I have not been able to find much alternatively since my diagnosis three days ago. I was considering dopamine raising herbs..anything else? )it is sometimes treated similarly to restless leg syndrome although it is a different thing..involuntary and under sleep unlike restless leg which is when awake and asleep. Dopamine also is related to
Parkinson, another involuntary movement disorder. I am so scared of the medical drugs but also hanging on by a thread from severe sleep deprivation for so long.

I am drowsy a bit but 2 docs think its psychosomatic-but want me to get a study Suddenly Im getting panicky about a cpap

traveling
camping
comfort
sleep in public ( camp trips hostels)

tommorrows appt w/sleep doc has me suddenly terrified

any words of comfort wisdom support appctd

I had NO symptoms til some idiot doc said she thot I had it
and ever since- symptoms have been there ( 2 mos now)

She also thot I had diabetes and was WRONG

of note:

Tapes I make of me sleeping sound normal slight snore

I am awake early in the day ( 1 doc says thats not apnea)

I am 50 pounds overweight male

any support here apprciated

I love to camp for days

am single and dating
how sexy is a cpap !

and just plain scared about life on a cpap
People with it please dont take offense

Recently diagnosed with mild sleep apnea. I woke up 113 times. A CPAP was recommended.

The lack of sleep has had left me depressed, fatigued constantly, severe body aches at times, irritable and have gained 35 pounds.

My question is whether anyone was in a similar situation with the mild apnea and the troublesome symptoms, and whether CPAP helped you.

I will have to pay several hundred dollars out of pocket, and wonder, given the diagnosis of "mild", is it worth the financial investment?
my 0xygen dropped to 93, which is good, I think. I am not sure how long…I don’t recall that info in the study and I don’t have it at hand.

and she is snoring. About a year ago when this started, I asked my wife to wear ear-plugs, as she complained about my constant snoring keeping her up. I decided enough is enough, after not sleeping together for over a year and our sex life suffering, I went in for a sleep test and I was diagnosed with sleep apnea. Now I use one of those CPAP masks. Its hard to get used to and I still have some nights where it bothers me.

Problem is since she has gained weight, after having two babies, now she snores and its loud. I wake her up and she gets soo frustruated. I think its very unfair. I’ve asked her to get it under control and she ignores me.

I have a pretty major decision to make regarding surgery. I am 17 years old and although I am not overweight (I am 5′11 and 160 pounds, muscular build) I have sleep apnea. I’ve got it pretty badly–in a sleep study I did a few weeks ago, I averaged 7 times an hour in which I stopped breathing (for 8 hours a night, that equals an average of 56 times in one night!) and each time, my oxygen level fell to 73 (which is very low). As a result, my doctor referred me to an ENT (Ear Nose & Throat doctor). I had the appointment today, and the results were that my tonsils are insanely large (almost twice the size they should normally be), my adenoids have grown back (I had them removed when I was 6, but apparently the damn things came back!), and my uvula (little dangly thing in the back of your throat) is gargantuan.

The ENT gave me these options:
1. Have the surgery to take out the adenoids, tonsils, and most of my uvula (if not the whole thing). The issue is that it’s only a 50/50 chance that the surgery will make a major difference in my apnea and actually cure it. It’s almost certain that it will help, but only a 50% chance that it will majorly help me. I would be out for about a week and a half to 2 weeks, including no work, no school (not that big of an issue for me…I’ve got senioritis already), no driving, etc. Basically being homebound for 2 weeks. That, and this surgery will cost several thousand dollars.

2. Don’t have the surgery and instead go straight to a CPAP or BiPap machine (breathing machine to use at night to provide air pressure to keep my airway open so that I can breathe somewhat normally). This will not cure my apnea in any way, but it will make it manageable. It’s not a cure, just a treatment device.This also won’t keep my apnea from getting worse in the future as the surgery could. This machine will also cost a few thousand dollars.

3. Don’t have the surgery or the machine, but continue life the way it is. I really don’t want to do this (I am exhausted almost all the time) and I want the problem to be fixed, but this one doesn’t cost any money–money which we may soon not have (my dad works for GM…’nuff said).

I know it’s my decision (and my family’s) in the long run, but I really need advice on this. This is a life-changing decision, and if I don’t treat this it can and probably will kill me later in my life. Honestly I’m leaning towards #1 because that could actually fix the problem–#2 would just give me a machine which would help, but not fix the root problem. I figure if I’m ‘broken’ I should have the surgery to ‘fix’ it, not just something to help but still be broken.

What do you think? I really need some advice…

I’ve had my CPAP for a year and a half now and I just can’t adjust to using it. I have tried three different facial masks and I invariably wake up in the morning with the mask on the bed beside me or on the floor. The straps on the masks give me a headache and, if I loosen them, they don’t stay on. I sleep so much better without the mask anyhow, but the machine was terribly expensive, as were the additional masks, and i know that I should be using the machine regularly. Any suggestions as to how I can get used to it and use it regularly? Thanks!
Whoa. Don’t you think a tracheatomy is a little bit drastic? Thanks but no thanks. I think I’ll just continue looking for a different mask before I do something that drastic.

So I only have to wear the tube that goes around your ears and slightly into the nose when I sleep at night, but I’m finding that the oxygen is uncomfortable and almost impossible to sleep with. I keep taking it off right before I fall asleep.
Is the oxygen machine too high for me? It’s at 2 liters an hour. I guess really what I need to know is if it’s always uncomfortable and I’ll just have to get used to it, or if I can get it tweaked a little bit.
Mary – Yes, I had two sleep studies. The Dr. told me they needed me to go back for a third one, with a cpap, to see how it goes… but they never gave me an appointment date or anything.

Also what I’m specifically talking about is the feeling of the oxygen tube ends in my nose. They are just super uncomfortable. I was wondering if I could trim them down a little? I’ve been on it for almost a week now and I’m getting used to the actual oxygen, it’s just the tubes in my nose that drive me nuts!

Sleep apnea causes snoring so bad that my GF and I have to sleep in separate rooms. The sleep study only recommended a CPAP, no other alternatives were given. Right now a CPAP is way out of our budget, so we have been looking at Mandibular Advancement Devices -(MAD’s). Looking online I see a lot of places that will make them for you, but I am not finding reviews from people who actually use them. What are the Pro’s vs. Con’s of these devices? Has anybody had success or failure using them?

He said my oxygen levels were normal and that he prescribed a CPAP. If my oxygen levels were normal, is there any point in using the CPAP?
The doctor told me that I had apartial airway collapses during the sleep study.

My husband (age 55) has been using a CPAP for two years because of severe sleep apnea. His doctor has told him that he could have surgery but that he cannot guarantee the results. I would be interested in hearing from others who have had this done and what kind of results you got from the surgery and would you do it again, or stay with the infernal machine.

I have sleep Apnea and my doctor recommended getting a surgery to basically hollow out my throat so i can breathe at night. the surgery is abbreviated UPPP. My friend, whos parents are doctors, does not think i shound get it because of risks and the fact i wld have to re-learn to swallow and that my voice may change? Is any of this reasonable? I dont want to be dependednt on a oxygen machine my whole life.
im not over weight, im 18 and pretty healthy. I am always tired though, hence my desire to get this fixed. the CPAP just seems like something that would wiegh me down at college next year. My doctor told me surgery would be good for someone my age. but im still nervous. I would also be getting a deviated septum fixed while I am at it to help with the breathing…

I have recently started using a CPAP. It doesn’t bother me, in fact I think I sleep better. I just worry about how it looks to my hubby to see me in the stupid thing. How has your experience been?

Has anyone ever found out that they had sleep apnea through taking the sleep study? Is a Cpap always the recommended treatment? What other treatments are there? Has anyone found out what their sleeping problem was and felt 100x times better? Has it changed anyone’s life for the better? I have one coming up next Friday. I have been tired for as long as I can remember. I should have done this a long time ago. It has come in between everything in my life…friends, family, work, etc. I hope I can find some answers and start living a normal life and not feel tired every single day of my life!

I suffer from really bad sleep deprivation. Have all the symptoms….can’t focus, irriatable, ect. I am having surgery in a couple of weeks for a deviated septum. My nose is always plugged up, I am definately a mouth breather because if I wasn’t I wouldn’t be able to breathe at all. I have sleep apnea(had a study done and it is comfirmed). Never been able to use the CPAP because of the nose mask(I know they have mouth ones). My question is can we replace lost sleep? We I be able to bounce back from such severe sleep deprivation? Anyone? Only asking because someone told me we can’t replace "lost sleep".
Also have bad cases of "sinusitis" so even if I could breathe through my nose I’m always stuffed up. Constantly.

I was just diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnea and my doctor says that he wants to do surgery on both my palate and nasal airway. He says that my nasal airway is barely open and not getting any oxygen in it when I try to breathe (mouth breather). I don’t want the surgery, so he says that he’ll only let me try the CPAP for one night at the hospital but that if it doesn’t work, he’ll do the surgery anyway. Has anyone here had nasal surgery? Is it done awake/asleep? Does it hurt? Does it work? I’m really scared about it but all Doc tells me is not to worry. Easy for him to say.

I’ve recently been diagnosed with sleep apnea; the full diagnosis was "obstructive, central, and mixed " I’ve been prescribed a CPAP, w/ full mask (CFlex). Guess my question is.. how soon can I expect to feel better, and just what will ‘feel better’ feel like? evidently i’ve had this for quite some time, and would appreciate hearing from someone with personal experience of treatment for same.
Thanx~

I have other health problems and I was searching for answers so I did a couple of sleep studies. When I wore the CPAP it caused "centrals" to occur so they did not recommend I use a CPAP for treatment. Is an AHI of 6 really that bad? It seems to me that sleep disorders are becoming an easy business and everyone and their brothers are getting into it to supplement income. I know a 6 on the AHI scale is "mild" but what is mild. Define mild because one word alone does not really mean much. I wonder, statistically speaking, if most everyone has a low rating and they are just trying to make a buck.

my grandmother has sleep apnea. my mom, who works at a sleep lab and also has sleep apnea, always knew this and believes she has had it for 10 or so years and has told her to get a test done. well i was finally able to convince my grandma to get it done and its terrible. her average sleep time was 76 seconds. she only remembers waking up twice for the bathroom.

since she has had the test and will soon find out a way to treat it, more likely the cpap,what are some things that can change for her positively? will she be less tired in the day, not so much out of breath, maybe even more energetic? she weighs around 220 pounds so could this help her lose the weight more so since she’ll be getting better sleep? she eats very healthy foods and small portions throughout the day.

When was Sleep Apnea first recognized as an actual sickness or disability? I was in the military from ‘73-’77 and had all the symptoms but I was young and was never concerned with the effects. Once out of the military, symptoms persisted and was eventually told by the VA and civilian doctors tha I had OSA and have been on a CPAP for over 15 years now. Even after a LAUPP and G-BAT(VA) surgery I still have OSA and still have to use the CPAP. I am trying to service connect my OSA. Please help.

There are some recent findings that chinstraps may be more effective than CPAP at treating sleep apnea. Has anyone succesfully tried using just a chin strap alone? If so, any particular brand?